Do you want to see ‘What Love Is’?

What Love Is (2006)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 3.1/10
Reviews Counted: 13
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 11

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 3/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 7

No consensus yet.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 5,235

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

Poolhall Junkies actor/writer/director Mars Callahan once again pulls triple duty with this battle of the sexes comedy starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Sean Astin, Matthew Lillard, Gina Gershon, and Anne Hesche. It's Valentine's Day, and Sarah (Victoria Pratt) has just kicked longtime boyfriend Tom (Gooding, Jr.) to the curb. Now, as Tom's friends Sal (Lillard), Ken (Callahan), George (Astin), and Wayne (Andrew Daly) drop by to discuss the shortcomings of the female gender, Sarah and her friends

R, 1 hr. 28 min.

Comedy

Directed By: Mars Callahan

In Theaters: Apr 1, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Apr 1, 2008

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

What Love Is Trailer & Photos

Cast

Critic Reviews for What Love Is

All Critics (13) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (11) | DVD (2)

Shrill, abrasive, cartoonishly over-the-top and badly titled.

April 2, 2007 Comment

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Top Critic

Gooding is solid in the leading-man role. He has some of the best lines, and he's pretty much the only character you could stand to hang out with in real life.

March 23, 2007 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comment

Peter Hartlaub

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Now and then there is something strangely right about films this defiantly wrongheaded, but What Love Is never rises above the leaden, overbearing qualities of Callahan's dialogue and staging.

March 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

| Comment

Mark Olsen

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

What Love Is overflows with mind-numbing patter, bizarrely delivered with the arch formality of David Mamet, with the net effect of being yelled at for no reason.

March 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Paige Wiser

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Romantic comedies should never be this exhausting.

March 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Andrea Gronvall

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Someone tell writer-director Mars Callahan what a movie is.

March 23, 2007 Comment

Hollywood Reporter

Top Critic

Graphic-yet-boring rom-com.

October 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

| Comment

S. Jhoanna Robledo

Common Sense Media

In its own peculiar way, What Love Is is a testament to the redemptive power of words. Thankfully, Callahan knows to keep it short and sweet, lest his audience go mad from the noise.

March 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle

| Comment

Josh Rosenblatt

Austin Chronicle

It could be that What Love Is is what lovers of either gender can like, thanks to equal parts misogynistic machismo and locker-room girl talk, all of it tied together with just a little bit of cozy romantic reality.

March 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Seattle Times

| Comment

Ted Fry

Seattle Times

A shrill cacophony of puerile clich�s about men and women and sex, delivered in adrenaline-driven harangues and arrogant lectures. When the stage clears, all that's left is the unpleasant odor of all that hot air.

March 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

| Comment

Sean Axmaker

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The level of insight in this romantic comedy's dialogue makes the oeuvre of Ed Burns look like Racine.

March 22, 2007 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly

| Comment (1)

James C. Taylor

L.A. Weekly

Too wordy frozen stage play with Matt Lillard a spitting, screaming, out-of-control embarrassment.

March 18, 2007 Full Review | Comment

Victoria Alexander

FilmsInReview.com

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for What Love Is

View All

Mars Callahan did a great job with Poolhall Junkies. However, his follow up film, What Love Is, is a misfire. He had a really good idea here, but didn't execute it correctly. The dialog is very good. Callahan echoes David Mamet and Ed Burn type of dialog. The film feels like a stage play. He didn't need to do fancy

July 26, 2009

Sol C

Super Reviewer

Plot: Tom plans to surprise his girlfriend Sara with an engagement ring, and he's asked his four best friends to witness the popping of the question at his place on Valentine's night. Trouble is Sara's left him a "Dear John" letter and will be by soon to pick up her suitcases; plus, thinking it's a party, Tom's friend

June 13, 2011